Pacifica letter carriers made their regular delivery rounds last Saturday to their postal customers, and in many cases they were given food in return for their service.

That’s because last Saturday was the National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. The food drive is held on the second Saturday of May each year. Residents deposited food items in paper bags adjacent to their mailbox for the letter carrier to collect.

The letter carriers then return back to either the Main Post Office in Pacifica Manor or the Linda Mar Station to drop off the food. Working with Coastside Hope, Second Day Harvest and other non-profit agencies the food is collected and taken to local resource centers or pantries.

Letter carrier Wayne Chen said the food drive added a little more time to his route in Sharp Park, but he didn’t mind.

“It’s exciting. I like it and I know that the food will be helping somebody,” said Chen, who returned enough food to the Pacifica Manor office to fill three barrels of food. “The customers put the food beside their mailbox.”

“Many of my customers left food,” said Johnny Liao, who has been a carrier for 13 years. “The food drive is good. It helps many people. My customers like it.”

Postal customers were notified of the food drive by receiving a card in the mail a week ago. In many cases, plastic bags were provided to residents to deposit the food. For others, a brown bag filled with non-perishable food items was left by the doorstep.

For the Pacifica carriers they made it a fun day.

“Our carriers look forward to participating in the food drive. It’s very normal for them,” said Laurence Chew, supervisor at the Pacific Manor Post Office. “We try to make it a party-like environment. The carriers are able to return to the office for lunch and drop off the food. We had a pizza party. Then they returned at the end of the day bring with them more food.”

“It’s a comradery between us and our customers in the community,” said Chew, who estimated that the carriers collected about 10,000 pounds of food on the one day. “We filled 60 barrels of food.”

The food drive’s timing is crucial. Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. By springtime, many pantries are depleted, entering the summer low for many community food banks.

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